BLOGAugust 15, 2017

Glenn: Americans Need This Famous Quote About ‘Dangerous Unselfishness’ More Than Ever

The night before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King called for “dangerous unselfishness” in what would be his last speech. “Be concerned about your brother,” King said. “Either we go up together, or we go down together. Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.”

On radio Tuesday, Glenn pointed to King’s last speech as inspiration for Americans today.

“That speech is so worth your time reading,” he said. “You want to talk about courage?”

Our country is more and more divided as people become more selfish and can increasingly focus on themselves with social media, and the weekend’s horrifying events in Charlottesville are just one example of that division.

“We’re isolating ourselves in little, teeny communities where even our closest friends and our family [are] being kicked out of that community if they disagree with us,” Glenn said. “Technology is pouring gasoline on this. Information, entertainment has become our teacher and our God.”

GLENN: Hello, America. I'm glad you're -- I'm glad you're here today. We're going to go back over the -- the news out of North Korea. Some will say I'm big far too generous. And I will tell you this: I don't think I am for the moment. It may turn out that this is a false peace. I'm not sure. But let's root for peace.

Now, let talk about the peace that we're seemingly losing on the streets in America. Do not believe it. Do not believe the things that the media is trying to tell you right now.

First of all, understand this: The media is in full-fledged collapse. It is in collapse. I don't think anybody -- how can I explain this?

Six years ago, I got the disruptor of the year award, which killed Tribeca to give me. For what?

For breaking the back of the media and going out on our own. Six years ago, when I told Bill O'Reilly this, he said, "Beck, what are you doing? Nobody's going to watch -- nobody's going to watch your show and watch TV on their desktop." And he's right.

We're all watching television now on our phones. I designed a company around trying to convince people to watch television on the internet. That happened quickly.

And the world moved in that direction quickly. Not that I was leading it. I'm just the first guy walking out into the darkness going, "Okay. Hello. Is this mic on? Is anybody listening?"

Today, I'm already out of date. We're already dinosaurs. Now, imagine if you are a network and you have all the global resources. Most of that is worthless.

The numbers all across-the-board in advertising and ratings, they're all down, on both sides. They're all down. So what do you do?

Well, the media has decided, what they're going to do is they're just going to feed you more anger, more hate, more division. Because after all, that's what drives the clicks. That's what people are watching. If it bleeds, it leads.

And nobody is working on another theory. It's binary. You either shout hatred from the rooftops, or you're out of business. That is not going to last. But it's deeper than that.

Before I left Fox, and only my close staff knows this, but every single day, towards the end, every day, multiple times a day, what did I say, Stu, to our staff about leaving Fox and getting out of that? You don't remember? Do you remember?

PAT: You thought it was all going to burn down.

GLENN: It was all going to burn down. We got to get out of here before this whole thing burns down. The media --

PAT: Yep.

GLENN: -- got to get out of here before -- it's burning down. And it's burning down from the sins of the past. But it's all burning down because of technology. Everything's changed.

And it needs to. It's good. But you, yourself, also have to say, "Am I in a new world, or am I fighting to hold on to the old world?"

And I'm not talking about principles. Well, actually I am. Are you going to go into the new world with your principles, or are you going to leave them in the past? Are you going to abandon all of your principles to be able to hold on to something that is going to slip through your fingers?

Everybody, the high and mighty, CNN, fair and balanced. They're not fair and balanced. We're fair and balanced. We're journalists. No, you're not. You're giving your opinion from dawn until dusk. I'm trying to remember what I -- what I read on a -- on a chyron or the lower -- what do you call those?

The typing on the -- so the audience knows.

STU: Words on bottom of the screen.

GLENN: Yes. The words on the bottom of the screen.

And I was watching -- I don't remember which network it was. MSNBC or CNN. And at the bottom of the screen, Donald Trump was talking. And it was from his speech earlier in the day. And it said something like, "Donald Trump's divisive speech." Well, there's no news in that. There's no news. That's all his opinion.

His divisive speech. Now, we could all think that it was very divisive. Except, if we all thought it was divisive, it wouldn't be divisive now, would it? It would be Donald Trump's most agreeable speech, or the speech Donald Trump gave that everyone disagrees with.

It's opinion. The night before Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, he gave a speech. That speech, part of that speech has been turned into song. That speech is so worth your time reading. You want to talk about courage.

There was -- there was one line that jumped out at me reading it again over the last couple of days. Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.

Now, this is going to sound harsh because nobody likes to hear it about themselves, but America is very selfish. We all are very selfish right now. All of us. Facebook. Whose face? YouTube.

Everything is about us. We are increasingly inward focused on and isolated. Our kids are on the internet. Our kids are not looking up or out. It's all in.

We don't know our neighbors. We're increasingly turning against church. Forget church. We're isolating ourselves in little teeny communities, where even our friend and -- our closest friends and our family is being kicked out of that community if they disagree with us.

Technology is pouring gasoline on this. Information, entertainment has become our teacher and our god. The more inward focused a person becomes, the more susceptible he is to slip into the darkness. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?"

When a person is too inward-focused and slipping into darkness, technology and the media is there with the gasoline and the matches. Everything we're talking about right now is selfish. It's all about my problems, my pain, my needs, my cause, my rights, my vengeance.

Now more than ever, we need to develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. We need to stop asking what our country can do for me.

It's interesting to me that Derek Weimar, James Field Jr.'s former high school history teacher in Kentucky, has already admitted he feels like he failed in not doing more about the warning signs he saw in last weekend's killer.

Weimar said Fields was a very bright kid, but very misguide and disillusioned. I'm quoting, "A lot of boys get interested in the Germans and the Nazis because they're interested in World War II. But James took it to a whole 'nother level."

He said Fields wrote a deeply researched paper about the Nazi during World War II. "It was obvious that he had this fascination with Naziism and the idolatry of Adolf Hitler. He had white supremacist views. He really believed in that stuff. And when you're a teacher and you see one of your former students do this, it's a nightmare scenario. This is something that was growing in him. And I admit it, I failed. I tried my best. This is a teachable moment and something we need to be vigilant about, because this stuff is tearing our country apart."

I have to tell you, I don't blame the teacher. In fact, I commend him for being honest. Honest about his influence on Fields. How many people want to stand up? How many people have stood up and said, "You know what, I played a role in this?" Nobody says that after a tragedy. Nobody stands up and says, "Yep. Yep. I saw it, and I failed to do anything about it." People often say, "Oh, I -- you know, I saw -- my dog knew. Oh, man, every time I walked by his apartment door, my dog knew. But I should have listened to my dog, but I didn't."

No. This is saying, I saw it. Not my dog. And I didn't do enough.

You know the great thing about life -- you know, I had a guy in my office -- you know, let me take a break. Because I saw something this weekend in somebody that was such an amazing moment. He -- he looked at God as this kind, gentle -- and I think God is. But because he's also our Dad, our father, he also, excuse the expression -- is the biggest ass kicker in the world. Daddy loves us so much, he'll kick our ass, for our sake. For our benefit. Not because he's angry. Not because he's vengeful. But because the system he designed allows you to do the things that you want to do.

But he also says, "By the way, you know, snowblowers should not be used on the roof." But when he tells you that and you decide to do it anyway and you fall and you break your neck and your arm is sucked into the snowblower and torn off, there's no -- you don't sue God. He told you.

He's mad at me. Nope. Nope. He told you that was a stupid idea. Now you pay the price. We have to be dangerously unselfish and reach beyond ourselves. Reach out to the youth, the neighbors, the people who are obviously hurting and trying to shift their focus and ours outward.

Evil is real. And sometimes it takes over a person. And they can't be rescued. But that doesn't relieve us from our responsibility of trying to rescue and noticing the pain around us.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

THIS is why self-reliance may be your ONLY protection from SLAVERY

Are you truly free, or is your life quietly controlled by systems most Americans never question? In this eye-opening conversation, Glenn Beck speaks with investigative journalist Whitney Webb about how the Elites, banks, and global systems have created modern forms of enslavement, all while the public remains largely unaware. They discuss the urgent need for local self-reliance, alternative financial systems, and taking personal responsibility to protect yourself and your family. This is a wake-up call for anyone who believes freedom is guaranteed, and it’s time to see the truth and act before it’s too late.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Whitney Webb HERE

RADIO

Claire's warning: The dark side of gender care EXPOSED

Claire Abernathy was just 14-years-old when doctors told her parents she’d take her own life without hormones and surgery. They promised “gender care” would save her life. Instead, it left Claire with irreversible scars, broken trust, and a lifetime of regret. Her mom was told she was required to comply. No one ever addressed the bullying, or trauma Claire endured before being rushed into medical transition. Now, years later, both Claire and her mother are speaking out and exposing how families are misled, how doctors hide risks, and how children are left to pay the price. With federal investigations now underway, their story is a warning every parent needs to hear.

RADIO

The most INSANE Deep State story you've never heard

Was an NGO with deep government ties trying to RESTART the opium trade in Taliban-run Afghanistan while former Taliban members were on its payroll...only to be caught DESTROYING the evidence?! The State Department's Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Darren Beattie joins Glenn Beck to expose what he found when he was made Acting President of the United States Institute of Peace. Plus, he debunks ProPublica’s claim that DOGE “targeted” an “Afghan scholar who fled the Taliban.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Darren, welcome to the program. How are you? Darren, are you there? Is he there?

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: Okay. Check if he's there. Is he? Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney.

STU: Trying to shut him down. They don't want peace. They don't want peace.

GLENN: They don't. They don't.

He is -- he is a big-time anti-globalist. I've got to tell you, what we're doing with the State Department. I absolutely love. The State Department has been a big problem for this country for a very long time. It's what's gotten us into these global wars. These endless wars, and everything he is.

And, I mean, I don't know what happened to Marco rube, but he is tremendous.

And the way president Trump is appointing different people like Darren, it's fantastic. Darren, are you there? Darren.

STU: Something must be wrong with the lines. Because we are talking to him offline on the phone here. And it does seem to be working, but not coming through our broadcast board here for whatever reason.

GLENN: Well, let's see if we can get that fixed, and maybe let me just talk here for five, six minutes on something else. Then we'll take a break and come back and see if we can get him.

There's something else that I really want to talk about. And that is this flag-burning thing. Now, it's not an amendment.

This is something that the president is putting up in an executive order and has very little teeth to it.

But I -- I -- look, I understand. As a guy putting an enormous flagpole up at my house today.

I mean, an enormous flagpole.

I love the flag. I love it!

And there are a few things that make me more angry than see somebody you set our flag on fire.

For a lot of people, that's a punch in the gut, especially our military people. And it has been planted on distant battlefields. It's raced after victory. Saluted in the morning, or should be in our schools and folded and given to the hands of grieving families. It feels like spitting on every sacrifice, that ever made this nation possible. And the argument against flag burning is really simple: It dishonors the idea of all of that. Okay?

And it defends millions of people, including me. It disrespects, I think the veterans that bled. The families who mourned. The dream that binds us together.

However, here's the hard truth: Symbols only mean something, in a land where freedom is alive.

If you outlaw the burning of a flag, the you have placed the cloth above the Constitution that it represents. You have made the flag an idol.

We don't worship idols. If you can only praise the flag and never protest it, it just stops being a symbol of freedom. And starts being an idol of obedience.

Now, that's the argument for allowing it. At least to me.

Because the real strength of a free nation is -- is to -- it's -- it's how we protect, not the speech we love, but how we endure the speech we hate!

And the Supreme Court has already ruled on this. And, you know, they -- the line they drew wasn't an easy one. Freedom of speech, stops where it directly -- directly insights violence. And that's it same thing, kind of, in this executive order.

You can burn the flag. But if I'm not mistaken, but if it incites violence, then you're in trouble.

And that's true. But the bar of inciting violence is so incredibly high. And it's -- it doesn't have anything to do with speech that offends. It's not speech that stirs anger. Not speech that wants you to punch the speaker in the mouth. It's speech only, that provokes imminent and specific violence.

And unless it's that be with the government doesn't have any right to -- to get into the business of silencing speech. Ever. Ever. Ever.

It is a hard line. And that standard is really hard. It's painfully hard.

Because what our citizenship requires, this is civics. What our citizenships require, is that we defend -- oh, I hate this.

We defend the right of your opponent to mock everything that we hold sacred.

Now, I want you to think of this. You can burn a Bible. You can burn the Word of God. But some want to make it illegal to burn a flag. Where are our priorities? You can burn the Constitution. The words that actually are the ones that stir us into action. But you can't burn a flag.

You can't burn a Koran. Can't burn them. Can't. Can't.

You will -- you will quickly come to a quick end, not legally. But you will come to a quick end. I don't ever want to be like that. Ever!

You burn a Bible. I think you're a monster. What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?

But you have a right to do it. Why are we drawing a line around the flag? It -- the reason is -- is because we feel things so passionately. And that is really a good thing, to feel love of country so passionately. But then we have to temper that. My father used to tell me, that I think this country needs to hear over and over again, every day. My father -- we would talk to somebody. And we would walk away. And he would go, I so disagree with everything that man just said. But, Glenn, son, he would say. I will fight to the death for his right to say it. He used to say that to me all the time. Which now lees me to believe, I know where I've got my strong opinions from. Because dad apparently would disagree with a lot of people all the time.

But that was the essence of freedom. That is the essence of what sets us apart. Standing for universal, eternal rights like free speech. It's not easy. It means you have to take the size of those people that offend you. It means -- it doesn't mean you have to disagree with it. You can fight against it. You can argue back and forth.

But you -- can you tolerate the insults to the things that you love most. That is so hard, and that is why most of the world does not have freedom of speech. It's too hard! But our Founders believed people are better than that. Our citizens can rule themselves!

And the only way you can rule yourself is if you don't have limits on freedom of speech. So the question is, do we want to remain free? Or do we want to just feel good? It really is that simple. It's why no one else has freedom of speech. It's too hard! I think we're up to the task. Okay. Give me 60 seconds. And then we will try again.

The -- there's certain moments in history, that test not just entire nations, but the hearts of those who live in the nations. And right now, the people of Israel are living in one of those moments. Sirens in the night. Families huddled together.

Elderly men and women. Who remember a time when help never came. All of them wonder. Is anybody going to stand with us, this time?

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews exists to answer that question. They provide food, shelter, security, and hope. Real hope and help in the middle of a crisis! And every act of generosity from people like you sends a clear message. You are not alone. When you support the fellowship, you are joining hands with believers all around the world to lift up God's people, when they need it most. And it is a promise in action. It's a testimony that our faith isn't just words. It's love delivered right on time. And this is your chance to be part of something that really, truly matters. Something that is eternal. To stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel. And say, we're with you. We're not going to fight your wars. Not going to fund your wars. But we're with you. You have a right to live and exist in peace. To learn how you can help. Visit IFCJ.org. IFCJ.org. Go there now. IFCJ.org. Ten seconds. Back to the program.
(music)
All right. Let me -- let me bring Darren in. Darren, are you there now?

DARREN: Yes!
GLENN: Oh, God. Thank goodness.
Thank you for putting up with us. I don't know what happened with the phone system. But, first of all, tell me what the US Institute of Peace is. I've never even heard of it.

DARREN: That is a fantastic question. And I'll try to give the abbreviated answer, because I know we don't have several hours.

GLENN: Good. I know.

DARREN: But US Institute of Peace is one of lesser known, but quite important member of the NGO archipelago, that was created in the '80s. It belongs to the same cohorts as national endowments for democracy.

GLENN: Oh.

DARREN: And some other -- some other better known NGOs that really in the broad context of things. In kind of the sweep of things, was created as a kind of reorganization of the government structure in the aftermath of the church type committee hearings that expose a lot of the dirty dealings of government agencies such as the CIA, and so sort of a broader response to that government lie was to create this NGO layer of governance, with an armed distant plausible deniability, a kind of chameleon character of not exactly being government, not exactly being private, in order to fulfill some of those more sensitive functions that had been exposed in the course of the church hearings.

And so US Institute of Peace is one of those NGOs that had particular focus on conflict regions. But, of course, as I think you -- you suggested earlier, peace requires at the very least, an asterisk. Because there involves a lot of things, that conventional, most American citizens would not think should belong as part of the portfolio of something calling itself an institute of peace.

GLENN: So what was the thing with the -- with this Taliban member that was getting money from us?

DARREN: Right. So this is an interesting case. So there's a whole saga of a takeover of the US institute of peace under -- under DOGE.

And that's really a fascinating story unto itself. Just to give you a sense of what these characters were like. They barricaded themselves in the offices.

They sabotaged the physical infrastructure of the building. There were reports of there being loaded guns within the offices.

GLENN: Wow!

DARREN: There was one, like, hostage situation where they held a security guard under basically kind of a false imprisonment type situation. It was extremely intense.

Far more so than the better known story of USAID. And in the course of all of that, they tried to delete a terabyte of data, of accounting information that would indicate what kind of stuff they were up to.

What kind of people they were paying. And in the course of that, DOGE found that one of the people on their payroll. Was this curious figure, who had a prominent role in the Taliban government. And then seemed to kind of play a bunch of angles across each other.

Sort of one of these sixer types in the middle of Afghanistan.

The question is, what the heck is an organization like this, having an individual, who is a former Taliban member on their payroll.

It underscores how incredibly bizarre the whole arrangement is. And to just reinforce that. I think even more bizarre than having this former Taliban guy on the payroll is the kind of schizophrenic posture exhibited by the chief -- one truly bizarre thing is that one of the US Institute of Peace's main kind of policy agendas was basically lamenting the fact that the opium trade had dissipated under Taliban leadership. They had multiple reports coming out, basically saying, this is horrible, that the opium trade is diminished under the Taliban. Meaning, finding some way to restore it. How bizarre is that!

GLENN: What was their thinking?

DARREN: Well, it's -- it's very strange, and it depends on what kind of rabbit holes you want to go down. But the whole story of opium and Afghanistan and its connection to, you know, government entities, is a -- is a very intricate and delicate and fascinating one. But it seems very clear that the US Institute of Peace was involved in that story to some degree because their public reports. They had a full-the time guy of basically lamenting the fact that the opium trade dissipated under the Taliban. And, meanwhile, they're funding this former Taliban guy.

GLENN: Unbelievable. Now, ProPublica got this. And you have released the statement on it. And ProPublica just completely white-washed this -- said this guy was a victim, and his family was taken hostage. Was his family ever taken hostage because he was exposed?

And correct the ProPublica story, would you?

DARREN: Yeah, I mean, the ProPublica thing, as usual and as expected was a total joke.

GLENN: Yes.

DARREN: I mean, this guy, I'm not an expert on this particular person's history. But what's very clear is he was a former Taliban guy, and he was probably one of these people, who was playing all sides, made a lot of enemies. I know that there were several kind of attempts on his life by the Taliban, in the course of various -- various decades.

This has nothing to do with -- with DOGE.

I mean, he's a known quantity in the region.

And somebody who has made a lot of enemies.

And he was not -- he was on the payroll of the US institute of peace.

And nobody is expecting something like that. So then, and, again, there's this sort of hostile takeover situation.

Where the people are barricading he themselves in. Trying to delete all this data.

And sure enough, what's in the data, is stuff like this.

These random former Taliban guy, making his contract with $130,000.

GLENN: You know, this is the -- this is the real Deep State stuff, that I think bothers people so much.

Look, we expect our CIA to do stuff, we don't necessarily want to do it. We expect it.

When it's in the State Department.

When every department is pushing out money to NGOs to overthrow governments and everything else.

It's out of control!

It's just completely out of control.

And who is overseeing all of that.

DARREN: That's a great question.

I think part of the NGO -- UCEF was almost a cutout of a cutout.

A fourth of its money came from USAID.

In many ways, it was a cutout of USAID. Which itself was a cutout.

So there are many layers of distance. Plausible deniability.

And UCEF, I think institutionally really perfected this chameleon structure of being able to plausibly present itself as government. When that was convenient for what they were doing.

And also to present itself as a private organization, when that was convenient.

It's a very intricate setup that they had, that was truly optimized for this chameleon character of plausible denial operations. In conflict zones. Doing God knows what, with American taxpayer money.

And it's just an absolute hornet's nest.

We have recovered that terabyte that they tried to delete. And once we get things settled in the building itself, I intend to do a kind of transparency effort, whereby we release all of this material to the public.

GLENN: Good. Good.

DARREN: Just like I'm doing at the State Department. I'm currently acting as secretary at the State Department. And doing a transparency effort here. After I eliminated the global engagement center, which was sort of the internal censorship office within the State Department, decided, we've got to -- we've got to air this out to the public.

So within the next couple of weeks.

We'll have our next tranche of helps you of thousands of emails, documenting what this were doing.

GLENN: I would love you to go back on, through those emails.

I think you guys in the State Department are doing an amazing job. Thanks for being on.

Glenn's Show Prep

Glenn: Americans Need This Famous Quote About ‘Dangerous Unselfishness’ More Than Ever

THIS is why self-reliance may be your ONLY protection from SLAVERY

Claire's warning: The dark side of gender care EXPOSED

The most INSANE Deep State story you've never heard

Transcript

Brother of Hamas hostage reveals United Nations' "CRUCIAL MISTAKE"